Page 12 of A Linton Scandal

Visibly weighing my words, he replaced his phone in his pocket. “I can give you two days.”

“What?”

The corner of Mihais lips lifted. “I don’t like wasting time and like I said before. Five days is enough for them to plan, and act on it.”

His expression was cold, and the cruel shine in his eyes told me he wasn’t joking.

“Okay, I’ll tell you my decision in two days.”

“Good,” he said as he walked back out of the room.

I sat on my bed unmoving, until I heard the door to my apartment close. With a sigh, I leaned back and sprawled on the bed.

“What was I going to do?”

After a minute, I forced myself to move to my computer. The first thing I needed was information on just who exactly Mihai Linton was.

Mihai

“Do you think she’ll make the right choice?” Callin asked as we walked downstairs.

“It’s in her benefit to do so, otherwise, I will be left with only one other choice,” I said grimly.

“And what’s that?” Nao asked.

“I would take her somewhere no one could find her.” Becoming thoughtful I wondered if that wouldn’t be the better idea. Then a pair of determined brown eyes appeared in my mind’s eye. She wouldn’t make it easy, and I couldn’t ignore the sting of guilt that came right after.

“The damage to the Linton name wouldn’t be worth it if one of our enemies got ahold of that information,” Nao said, eyes firmly on his tablet.

“And the sudden increase in manpower would be noticeable unless you’re planning to use one of the foreign properties,” Callin added as he scrolled through his phone.

This was why I’d chosen these two from the Henrick family to work with me. All I had to do was mention my plans and they’d already begin looking through how it could happen. I smirked. “You two don’t get too ahead of yourselves with planning, she first has to say no. And Something tells me she isn’t going to.”

Both of them glanced at me before putting their devices away.

“What makes you think that?” Callin asked.

I shrugged. “Instinct.” The single thing that had made our family powerful was our ability to read the room and follow our gut. It wasn’t a superpower, but it hadn’t failed me yet.

Audrey Linton

Mihai

“You’ve finally come home.”

I let the butler Simian take my coat as I barely glanced at my mother who stood in the main entry way of my home. As usual her tall frame was wrapped in the latest designer dress she’d fallen in love with and the subtle jewelry she wore was probably worth more than the entire complex Juliette lived in. The blue eyes I’d inherited from her bore into me.

I couldn’t help sighing at the idea of presenting her to my parents. Though it was more about convincing my parents I had truly fallen in love with someone so outside of my class.

“Mihai, I’ve been calling and texting Nao all day. When are you going to explain to me why you ended your courtship of the girl?”

She followed me as I made my way upstairs, her slipper covered feet not stopping her long striders. “Do you know that I could barely keep my head up when I attended the Charity tea party yesterday. Dacia’s mother kept making snide comments the entire time. And I couldn’t even think of a rebuttal because I still couldn’t understand what happened.”

If it were anyone else who’d followed me and continued yapping I’d have immediately had Callin escort them to Hades, but this was Audrey Linton, the pillar of our family. I was lucky she’d waited a month before she’d finally come to chase me down at my personal estate.

“Something came up, which made the marriage between Feraldi and me is no longer feasible.”

“You’ve said that.”

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